ELIZABETHAN GARDEN 34 1 



somewhat arid enumeration therein of the seasonal 

 succession of flowering plants, we seem to hear echoes 

 of those exquisite verses in Peredita's speeches the 

 most beautiful expression of the intimate love of 

 flowers in all literature 



". . . Daffodils, 



That come before the swallow dares, and take 

 The winds of March with beauty; violets dim, 

 But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes, 

 Or Cytherea's breath; pale primroses, 

 That die unmarried ere they can behold 

 Bright Phoebus in his strength. 



" 'For March/ writes Bacon, 'there come violets, 

 especially the single blue, which are the earliest . . . 

 and which, above all other flowers, yields the sweet- 

 est smell in the air; also the yellow daffodil.' 'Lilies 

 of all sorts, the flowre-de-luce being one,' says Per- 

 dita. 'Flower-de-Luces, and lilies of all natures,' 

 echoes Bacon. 



"Near the Wild Bank later on there may, perhaps, 

 be planted some of those specimens of the topiary 

 art, which were so general in Jacobean gardens. 

 Even Bacon would admit them into his 'Princely 

 Garden.' 'Little low hedges (of box or yew),' he 

 writes, 'round like welts, with some pretty pyramids, 

 I like well, and in some places fair columns.' But he 



